


With Scrap Metal and Spirit

by TinyCurlyFry



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aliens and Magical Humans, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Slowburn Klance later on, scavengers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-20 23:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15544584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyCurlyFry/pseuds/TinyCurlyFry
Summary: Lance, Hunk, and Pidge survive the tyranny of the Galran Empire by making a living as Scavengers; They steal from the empire, explore, gather, and sell their findings underground. It isn't a luxurious life, but living in luxury is only an option for the ruling Galras. It certainly has its advantages though, and it draws in those few who still have a fighting spirit, who crave adventure and thrill. Life is never boring, and, if you're good, you can get your hands on some good gear. But a need for revenge is about to throw the gang of scavengers into far more danger than they'd expect. Or are prepared for.Mostly focuses on actual plot and action, but there's gonna be some slowburn Klance far down the line because I'm shipping trash.





	With Scrap Metal and Spirit

**Author's Note:**

> Brief Worldbuilding context just in case it's a little confusing in the actual story: There are "alien" races brought in from the show, humans, and different types of "variant humans" (Dryads, Nymphs, Tritons, humanoids beings like that). Technology is the same as the canon, but like everything else in here is mixed with other inspired elements of fantasy. 
> 
> Feel free to ask any questions, especially regarding worldbuilding. I adore talking about stuff like that, and there may be some things I might not find a way to include in the actual story or haven't thought about yet. Any and all comments are welcomed and greatly appreciated though, and I hope you guys enjoy even if not much happens in this first chapter~

It was strange how the air could feel both crisp and whirling, and suffocating and heavy at the same time. Stranger yet, Lance thought he might have liked the bizarre sensation, if the circumstances were different than what they currently were. The storm around him seemed to orchestrate his race through the city, a flash of lightning as he vaulted over a wall, a booming roll of thunder as he nearly lost his footing down a slick roof. The torrential storm seemed in pace with his adrenaline-driven feet as he raced, dangerously high above the city. Except, exhaustion was seizing his lungs, and he doubt he could keep up with this terrifying song the storm was playing. He feared he would soon fall to the cacophony that chased after him, Galran shouts sounding from the glowing streets below, the occasional harsh ‘twang’ as an attempted blast missed wildly and instead hit a wall of the smooth metallic-like material that made up most of the city. He was still a decent distance ahead of them, but he no longer needed to holler and yell for their attention. Instead, all his attention was now on outrunning them. He needed to stay alive. If only for a while longer.

Another leap. Another close call with the burning purple energy of a Galran gun. His body was screaming for him to stop, and he was thankful he had never heeded his mother’s warnings not to go on his reckless explorations of the outskirts of the city. Had this been his first time being chased by Galra authority he would have long since fallen and be overtaken by his current pursuers. Which would have meant his people wouldn’t have the time to summon the barrier. They would be slaughtered without the time he was making for them. He saw visions of his family lay floating lifelessly in the water that surrounded their houses, the canals dyed red.

So he ran. Lungs burning and his skin torn and bloodied. He was determined to run until he prevented those horrific thoughts from becoming reality. But then his vision went white. He screamed with the burst of pain. It felt like fire had erupted in his side and he looked down to see his blood pouring from a gaping wound, smoldering from the magic that had struck him. He imagined seeing the waterways of his home turn red. He saw his family being slaughtered by the Galra in a hundred different ways in rapid fire. He felt himself die.

Lance bolted upright, a tearful gasp wracking his chest, his hands clenched tight around the thin blanket that laid across him. He was awake, his heart still beating a mile a minute as it had in his dream. From the other side of the room and figure was turned towards him in concern, whatever she had been working on forgotten on the desk she was seated at. “...Lance? You okay?”

His whole head was screaming at him that this is not where he should have been. He should have collapsed on a roof, or fallen 50 feet onto a street somewhere. Or even captured by the Galra. He should have been dead. He found it hard to steady his breathing as his eyes searched the room wildly, unable to process where he was. The wooden chair screeched loudly against the dark colored floor as the figure quickly stood. “Hey, hey! Breathe! It was just a dream, Lance. You had a nightmare. That’s all.”

The figure had come hurriedly over, and crouched at the side of his makeshift bed on the floor. She reached out to put a comforting hand on him, but thought better of it just before she was about to touch his shoulder. So she simple sat there, telling him to breathe. That he was safe. He blinked a few times at the figure, eyes landing on a few strands among her hair that were actually thin, leafing branches, and the patches of bark texturing in her face that could easily be mistaken as freckles at a distance. A moment later he recognized the figure as Pidge. He remembered that he was in the small bedroom of the abandoned store that had been home for the three of them almost two months, making Lance feel immediately ridiculous for not recognizing his surroundings. He looked past Pidge at where the other figure lay, fast asleep. Lance couldn’t be more thankful that Hunk was such a heavy sleeper. He didn’t want to worry him, that he was still having nightmares about that night. The muscles that had become taught with panic relaxed, and Lance flopped onto his back with an exaggerated groan. Pidge snorted, “....You okay now?”

“Yep. Peachy.”

He didn’t have to look back at Pidge, he could sense her eyes rolling. He turned himself onto his side, his back towards Pidge, who responded with a friendly punch to his shoulder. She then stood back up and made her way back to the desk, which Lance was thankful for as he used the time she was facing away to wipe at the tears that were welling in his eyes. Lance listened to the quiet tinkling and scraping of metal as Pidge resumed whatever she had been working on before his scare. A quiet had come across the room again, not an uncomfortable silence, but it was clear they were both were waiting for the other person to break it. It was Lance who finally broke it, speaking carefully to ensure his voice didn’t crack from his breathing that had yet to calm to a normal rate. “Whatcha working on this late at night?”

“Rolo came across a broken Galra drone on one of his scavenging trips a few days ago. I managed to convince him to let me take it off his hands, and now I’m trying to see if I can get it functioning again.”

That brought Lance back upright again. He stared in shock at Pidge, “What?! Why the heck would you want to do that?”

Pidge looked at him as if the answer was obvious, but the only outcome that was obvious to Lance was the one in which the drone immediately attacks them and sends an alarm to the closest Galra troops. When Lance’s jaw didn’t pick back up, Pidge rolled her eyes again “ _Because_ , by figuring out how to get it working again, I will also be able to make it ‘friendly’ instead of ‘hostile’. Having our own drone would be a huge advantage on our trips.”

“Oh.”

He got up and brought himself down besides the desk, head resting on an arm as he prodded a small piece of the drone with his other hand. He didn’t get much of a chance to look it over however before Pidge promptly swatted his hand to release the piece. “No touching!” She said sharply.

Lance pouted with mock hurt, “How come you get all this cool stuff from Rolo? I’m pretty sure the guy hates my guts.”

Pidge laughed, “maybe because I don’t try to flirt with Nyma every time we bump into their gang?”

“Hey! I d-”

He was cut off by a roar of thunder. It was then that he realized that heavy rain was pummelling the window. A quiet, background noise, It wasn’t the deafening noise that had surrounded him that night long ago, but he knew it must have made its way into his perception as he was sleeping. He couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran through his body, a frown creasing into his face. He used to love the rain. He hated how haunting it felt now.

Pidge noticed his long, quiet gaze at the window, and briefly looked at the window herself. Clearly not affected by the sound of the torrential rain outside, she turned back to continue her work on the drone with a clear of her throat. It wasn’t too long however before she spoke again, this time in a hushed tone.

“Does... it happen every time it storms at night?”

Lance shrugged, trying to ease the awkward tension that had been created, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Nope.”

She gave him an unconvinced look, but didn’t press. Lance knew she was just concerned. He felt bad for brushing her off. That was when an idea came to him.

“How about I let you ask some questions about Hunk and I instead?”

She perked up slightly at the offer, but her excitement quickly changed to suspicion, “No bullshit.”

He grinned and placed a hand on his chest in promise, “No bullshit.”

The main body of the drone in Pidge’s hands was abandoned in favor of holding her head as she thought carefully. He watched with amusement as her brows furrowed in concentration. 

Hunk and Lance both looked like normal humans in their current state, as their kind looked under most conditions. Yet, from the moment they met, Pidge could tell right off the bat that the two weren’t normal humans; said their ‘aura was all wrong’. As it turned out, being a dryad herself gave her the ability to sense the true nature of things. In other words, she could see the auras of creatures and could see through illusions. Much to her frustration, their altered appearances weren’t illusionary. The aura they possessed, however, was unfamiliar to her. It wasn’t surprising really. He wasn’t sure if there were any left wandering about in the Galran empire. He was pulled out of his thoughts before they could delve into darker ones by Pidge’s first question, “Average lifespan?”

Lance laughed, “Aw come on, Pidge. That’s such a boring question.” He gave a pause just to be sure of his answer, “most live long past a century. Probably up to two hundred years? I don’t think I’ve ever known one much older than that.”

Pidge scrambled to retrieve her small tablet, nodding as she logged the new information with incredible speed. “What about magical abilities?”

“Well, our appearance can change under certain conditions.” He gave a wide crooked smile, “but you already know that.”

Pidge glared at him, “I’m not entirely convinced you can’t just do it on command. I could see it being an inside joke between you and Hunk.”

He feigned a hurt expression, “Pidge. We would never.”

“Uh huh.” She remained looking irritated as she raised an eyebrow, but the coldness didn’t reach her eyes. He had no way of telling if she truly believed him though. 

He contemplated the different kinds of magic he was capable of doing, wondering which one he could do without giving too much away. He enjoyed this game of theirs, and he wasn’t looking to end it anytime soon. Knowing how smart Pidge was, he had to be careful of which clues he gave her. In the end, however he decided to give a pretty big hint. She deserved it. “Alright, alright, I got something for you. Hold on.”

He stood and walked over to the window, placing both hands on the glass. He closed his eyes in concentration, struggling to get a feel for the rain without being in direct contact with it. Behind him he felt Pidge’s gaze as she watched him in excitement. He willed the falling rain towards him, and little by little some of the raindrops began pooling against the glass. Pidge gasped and hurried over to the window, watching in fascination as the outside of the window began to fill with water. She broke from her awestruck spell after a few seconds, and began flooding him with questions, “You have control over the elements?! Or wait, is it just water? Maybe the weather? Or! Or! Is it telekinesis, and you just decided to use the rain to demonstrate?”

He lifted his hands up in a big shrug, all the water suddenly dropping as he did so. “I don’t know Pidge,” He said wryly, a wide smile across his face, “you’ll have to figure that one out yourself.”

A tired groan came from behind them, and Lance turned to see Hunk lift his head from his pillow, still looking very groggy. “What’s with all the noise and talking?” He asked tiredly. 

Lance’s face softened apologetically, “Sorry, big guy. We didn’t mean to wake you.”

Pidge on the other hand leaned towards Hunk excitedly, “Lance pooled the water from the rain against the window!”

“Oh.” He looked curiously at Lance, “You did?”

Lance shrugged, “I figured I’d give her some hints. She needed them.”

Lance laughed as that last remark got him a punch on the arm. Hunk gave a tired chuckle too, propping his head up with his hand.

“Can you do that too?” Pidge asked Hunk.

“Pull the water against the window? Uhhh... probably not.”

“Hunk has slightly different abilities than I do. His magic is really unique for our kind. It’s really cool.”

Hunk reddened a little in embarrassment, “Aww, I don’t know that I would say that.”

Pidge shot back to where her tablet rested on the desk. “Okay, so. Varying magic abilities, two hundred year lifespan, high level of quintessence, a variant human race, you guys avoid getting wet like the plague, your appearance changes under--” She looked pointedly between the two of them “‘certain circumstances’, and are few in numbers in the empire.”

Lance nodded, exchanging a brief look with Hunk, “So. You have a new guess?”

Pidge’s face scrunched in concentration as she swiped and read through something on her tablet, chances were it was a log of the different races of variant humans. “I’m still not entirely convinced you two have been completely honest.”

Hunk shook his head, “No, all those things are true.”

“So, do you have a guess or not?”

She glared at Lance and gave one more cursory look through the list on her tablet. “The two of you are….. changelings.” She stated, though she didn’t seem too sure herself.

Hunk closed his eyes, tilting his head to the right so that his cheek rested in his hand instead, “Ah man, that’d be so cool.”

“We really aren’t lying about it being a conditional thing, Pidge.”

She put the tablet onto her desk with a frustrated ‘thud’. “Nothing lines up with those hints though!”

“Sounds more like a problem with the information you have.”

That earned Lance another harsh glare, but Hunk nodded, “Like Changelings, for example. There’s so much mystery surrounding them, since they _are_ extremely secretive.”

Pidge frowned, obviously not happy with that answer, but she seemed to accept it.

Hunk continued, “Our society wasn’t exactly the most open about the extent of our abilities. We had too much attention on us from the Galra as it was.”

Both Lance and Pidge nodded. Any race, be it human or otherwise, were too familiar with the danger of openly demonstrating magic, a sign of strong quintessence.

“Sooo, Can we all try to get some sleep now?” Hunk asked, nestling back under his blanket.

Pidge looked at Lance and shrugged, “Yeah, that’d probably be for the best.” However, she gave a pause and asked in a softer tone, “Do you think you’ll be able to?”

At that Hunk rolled back over, his face heavy with concern. “Lance?”

Lance forced a smile in attempt to ease Hunk’s worry, “Yeah, yeah. It was just a dream. _I’m fine._ ” 

Hunk’s face creased, “Lance, if -”

Lance cut him off, “It’s fine Hunk! Really.”

He didn’t give Hunk enough time to respond, turning abruptly towards his makeshift bed of tattered blankets. He flopped over onto his side, back facing his two friends. After a while there came the creaking sounds of the floor boards as Pidge moved to her own bed on the floor. Lance listened to the quiet sounds of the old building a while, the rain on its metal exterior, the occasional pop or creak that sounded randomly throughout the place, caused by unknown forces. Eventually, he felt the pull of sleep again and he gave in to it gratefully.

\-----------------

Lance leaned back into the leather of the small aircraft, slapping the white metal of the ship’s side impatiently. He turned in his chair to look behind him, “Come oonnn, Pidge. She drives like a dream everyday, are these check up things really necessary?”

Pidge glared at him from where she was sitting cross-legged near the ship’s tail, right outside of her cockpit. Her computer sat in front of her, a thick cord attaching her computer to the ship’s controls. “Yes, Lance. They are. We need to be sure we’re not going to run into a hiccup if we get into a tight spot today. The Galra have increased their presence recently on the outskirts, we need to be prepared for the worst.”

Hunk whined from the seat besides Lance, “Can we not maybe not mention such things? It feels like we’re definitely going to run into them now.” He sinks anxiously into his seat, “We’re definitely going to die today.”

Lance snorts, “Relax, big guy. Even we do, there’s no way they’ll be able to catch us in Veronica.”

Pidge chips in too, her voice poorly containing her excitement, “Even if they can, we have those new upgrades I put in recently.”

“No. no, no, no… No.” Lance sputtered, “Absolutely not. I’m not going to risk my girl blowing up. Your last upgrade nearly caught our engine on fire.”

Pidge huffed, “I made some miscalculations, that’s all. That won’t happen this time.”

“Ah yes, I suddenly feel very reassured. Can we go already?”

She sighed, closing her laptop, “Fine. Every seems to be in working order. Let’s roll out.”

Lance whooped and immediately roared the engines on, “Finally!”

“Wait, wait! I’m not in yet. Lance!”

She gave an angry yell as the Veronica lurched, and began rolling out from behind the rundown building. She scrambled in a panic to her place on the ship, quickly shoving her equipment into it. She had just barely managed to fasten herself to the seat when the ship gained enough speed to begin lifting off the ground. Static crackled for a split second in Lance’s ears and Pidge turned on the communicator in her helmet, “Remind me,” She growled, “Why we let _you_ pilot Veronica.”

“Because I’m the best pilot in all the empire. Duh.”

“My stomach begs to differ.” Hunk said with a strained voice.

Lance rolled his eyes, wrinkling his nose. “I’m not responsible for your bodily problems, Hunk. Please try to keep it in this time.”

“Please.” Pidge agreed.

Lance watched the landscape roll a little ways below them, fondness softening his previously disgusted expression. “So, gang. Where to today?”

“Well, a bunch of scavengers are still convinced something lies within the Olkarion forest. Even if we don’t find anything either, we can gather some materials merchants would pay decent silver for. Or…” Her voice trailed with a mischievous tone.

Lance raised an eyebrow, already hooked, “Or?”

“There was a buzz yesterday about some new activity near the ruins near Arus. Might be worth checking out.”

“A- _Activity_?” Hunk repeated nervously, “As in scavenger activity, or Galran activity?”

“Galran. But being that there was a bunch of talk surrounding it yesterday, my guess is both.”

A wicked gleam shone in Lance’s eyes, “Danger and competition? Oh, we gotta go.”

“No, no we don’t. How about instead we swing by Balmera again? There’s a lot less Galra there.”

“Yeah, because there’s nothing there anymore.” Lance answered, “We’re not going to get anything interesting if we go there.”

“Maybe we didn’t go deep enough into the town’s mines. There could be something down there left undiscovered.”

Lance ignored his suggestion, shifting the ship onto a course towards the city Pidge had mentioned. “So, what’s going on in Arus?”

“Apparently the Galra picked up on residual energy readings near the mountains east of the city. Old ones.”

Now even Hunk seemed interested, “How old we talk’n?”

“Like, Altean old.”

Lance rolled his eyes, but excitement still boiled in him, “Altea’s a myth. Stories people tell to get their minds off the current state of the empire.”

“Maybe so. But I don’t think the Galras would be there if all that’s there is stuff of legends. There’s gotta be something really powerful down there.”

“Or valuable.” Lance said, a grin stretching across his face.

“Right. It certainly won’t be easy.” Pidge said.

“Not to mention, extremely dangerous.” worry was creeping back into Hunk’s voice.

Lance smiled at the horizon, as if he could already see Arus, “We’ll just have to be careful.”


End file.
